


A New Life

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Psychics, Sexual Content, Slavery, p2, phoenix empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-24 03:42:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/629990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the eighteen years of his young life Ivan has been a prince, a Dracon pet, a gang leader and a mine slave - about time he becomes what he is meant to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the year 5038 of the Phoenix Empire timeline.

Yaden felt decidedly strange as he stepped out of one of the many changing rooms in the mission prep area of the Phoenix Knight Tower. For the first time in weeks he was squeaky clean. The dust and grime that had been clinging to him all through his mission on Bora Bora was washed away. To anyone else this would surely have been a really pleasant experience, but he couldn't help but miss the protective layer all that earth had provided. It had been reassuring to always have plenty of his favourite element all over his body.

He didn't miss the tangled mass of hair and beard though. Happily he rubbed his freshly shaved face. Colin wouldn't be too happy about the fact that they had hacked down most of the matted mess of his hair to a short, spiky mop, but it would grow back in time.

Being back in his so called 'iconographic outfit' did feel comfortable. Heavy, dark brown leather pants, a roughly woven green shirt and leather bracer with the Emperor's phoenix inlaid with bronze. It still felt strange not to be forced to wear Dracon black. After all Bora Bora had only been his third mission as a Phoenix Knight. But he liked it. He'd never exactly been a model Dracon anyway.

He wiggled his toes against the hard floor of the Tower. The material the palace was build from wasn't quite earth but close enough that he was still able to sense it and with some effort, manipulate it. Not as comfortable as the hard rock of Bora Bora or the ducal fortress of his mother on Pandora. But further out he sensed the rock and soil of P2 itself, anchoring him.

"Sir Yaden!"

The nervous, somewhat nerdy young woman who hailed him looked familiar, but it took Yaden a moment to recognize her as one of the team who had given him the tattoos on his forearms before this mission. They were some sort of anchor for the spell or whatever it was that so effectively hid his being a Psion. 

He hadn't really believed it would work, after all he wasn't exactly a weak Psion. But apparently power had nothing to do with the effectiveness of whatever they had done. It was a marvellous cover and Yaden felt slightly apprehensive at the thought that she might be there to take it away again.

"Did it work?" She asked, nervously pushing her glasses back up her long nose. "Were there any side effects?"

Yaden felt more amused than troubled by the question. Being kind of experimental and not very predictable was the normal modus operandi for most things here at the tower, as far as he could tell from his exposure so far.

He still raised a questioning eyebrow at the techie. Or was it more appropriate to call her a magie? Or whatever she actually was.

"Side effects? What kind of side effects?" he asked curiously.

"Uh… I don't know…" She took off the glasses and started cleaning them somewhat compulsively. "Like maybe not being able to locate your own powers anymore?"

Now there was a scary thought.

"And how likely is that to happen?" he asked, now slightly worried after all.

"Well." She stared at him through the glasses in her hand like she was observing something utterly alien and fascinating. "If it hasn't happened yet, very unlikely." She frowned. "So there were no side effects, I take it?"

Yaden shook his head. "None that I noticed. Are you going to remove the tattoos now?"

Her frown deepened. "We would prefer to leave them." She grumbled, as if he was threatening her favourite pet. Well, maybe he was, only that it was her pet project. "That way we can study long term effects."

Yaden chuckled. Reduced from Phoenix Knight to lab rat in just a few words. But he didn't mind. The damned tattoos were too useful to give them up, even if there was the remote possibility that they might do strange stuff to him.

"I guess I'll keep them then." He generously offered.

She nodded. "Good. Very good. Please do contact me if anything changes, yes?"

"Definitely." Yaden suppressed all the additional snarky comments on his mind. "Have you maybe seen the slave I brought back with me from the mission?" he asked instead. "A bit taller than me, black hair, looks a little starved."

"Ah yes, I think he is sitting in the waiting room off the mission prep foyer." The woman replied helpfully. "If you will excuse me now, sir, I have work to do." She didn't wait for his reply and quickly disappeared deeper into the warren that was this part of the Phoenix Knight Tower.

Yaden took a moment to gather his thoughts before he headed out to retrieve Ivan, who he had handed over to some of the mission prep staff for cleaning and safekeeping while he was cleaned up as well.

He wasn't quite sure how Ivan would react. After all Ivan had made no secret of the fact that he didn't really believe Yaden to be a Phoenix Knight. Not that Yaden blamed him he really hadn't looked the part on Bora Bora. But no matter what Ivan thought of him or how he reacted, there had been no chance in hell Yaden would leave him behind.

Ivan was the only other visceral Psion of significant power he had ever met. The pure joy of being understood, of watching Ivan's eyes light up when he explained, when Ivan figured out, bit by bit, how his powers really worked. That alone would have been priceless.

Then there was the way Ivan had handled the situation with Madrigal. Even surrounded by criminals and thugs Ivan had clung to his personal honour and come out on top. It had earned him Yaden's respect.

They had fought together. Ivan had risked his life to protect Yaden without a moment of hesitation. Yaden was confident he would have been able to complete his mission without Ivan's assistance, but not like this, not as quickly. Not without a whole lot more of running and hiding. 

The feeling of knowing that someone guarded his back, that he was not alone, had been an entirely new and marvellous experience. They had made a damn fine team. They had even joked together. It had taken Yaden a while to put a name to it, but the simple truth was that Ivan was his friend. The first friend he had ever had. At least if he didn't count Darren, who really was more a surrogate parent than anything else.

He didn't want to lose Ivan. He wanted more of what he had enjoyed on Bora Bora.

But he couldn't be sure Ivan would feel the same. After all he was a slave and Yaden knew for sure that he didn't like it. And just like he wouldn't leave Ivan behind, he wouldn't lock him up either. If he wanted to go, Yaden would make sure he got a chance for a clean escape and damned be the consequences. It wasn't like they would kick him out of the Phoenix Knights after all the trouble the Emperor had gone through to acquire him in the first place.

With his decision made he went to the waiting room.

Ivan wasn't hard to spot. He sat in one of the comfortable chairs with his hands folded in his lap, quite credibly pretending to be a good little slave waiting for his master. At least he hadn't tried to escape from the Phoenix Knight Tower. That would have been awkward. 

They had given him grey sweatpants, a grey, long sleeved shirt and a simple leather slave's collar. They'd also cleaned him up and Yaden now understood much better why Ivan had been a Dracon pet. Under all that grime and attitude he was quite pretty. He was also much younger than he had seemed to Yaden on Bora Bora. Probably barely in his twenties. 

So young and already Ivan had survived so much. They truly had a lot in common.

Suppressing a sigh Yaden entered the room. There was no point in postponing this. He wanted to know. And there were plenty of other things he needed to take care of besides Ivan. Like getting back to Colin.

"Ivan?" he addressed the other Psion.

He couldn't help but grin when Ivan looked up at him without even a hint of recognition. That seemed to help though as Ivan's impression changed to incredulous.

"Smelly?" he asked.

"I did tell you my name is Yaden, not Smelly." Yaden said with a laugh.

Ivan snorted. "You sure smelled Smelly to me." He got up from his seat and took a cautious step towards Yaden. "But it really is you, isn't it? Damn, you look… different."

Yaden shrugged.

"A definite improvement, though." Ivan added with a small grin of his own.

It was a relief to not see him revert to some sort of meek slave habit. "Did they take care of you?" Yaden asked.

"Yeah. Some Aroona was there and patched me up and they washed me and gave me this." He picked at the grey slave outfit. "They refused to feed me, though."

Yaden nodded. "It's standard precaution. You never know what a Phoenix Knight will bring back from a mission. Could be it turns into a monster if you feed it."

The incredulous look was back in Ivan's eyes and quickly changed to somewhat worried when he realized that Yaden was serious. Then his stomach growled loudly and Yaden realized that Ivan hadn't eaten since that fight in the organ trader's lair. Neither had Yaden himself.

"Oh fuck." He muttered, grabbing Ivan by the wrist and dragging him right along. "We need to eat. Quickly."

"Or we will turn into monsters?" Ivan only half joked.

"Well, sort of…" Yaden took the shortest route out of the Phoenix Knight Tower and to an elevator that would take them up to the food court at the centre of the palace. "Remember I explained that we use our bodies to channel our psi? Well, we burn a lot of energy that way and we have to replenish it. You can literary starve yourself to death if you use too much Psi without eating."

"Oh." Ivan poked his own belly thoughtfully, as they stepped into the elevator. "That would explain why I feel like my stomach is trying to digest itself."

Now that they were talking about food, Yaden's own body reacted as well, his stomach growling angrily. He had better control over it since he had trained for years to build up energy reserves he could use, but still the hunger was quite gnawing. Remembering what it had been like before Darren figured out how to properly feed him he could easily imagine how Ivan was feeling.

"Don't worry, I'll get us food." He promised.

They both gasped as the elevator opened and the myriad smells of the food court hit them. Yaden's stomach clenched and his mouth watered. When he looked at Ivan he saw orange flame and a wild look glitter in the other man's eye. Yaden kept his grip on Ivan's wrist and dragged him along, firmly keeping him from grabbing random food from hapless diners. They didn't have to go far.

"Antonio!" Yaden called loudly as they entered his favourite shop in the court. 

He always went here after his extended training sessions and they knew exactly what to do. It only took a moment for the owner to emerge from the kitchen. He grinned widely when he noticed Yaden.

"Sir Yaden! Welcome back!" He started on a welcome speech, but Yaden cut him short.

"Antonio, we've just returned from a mission and we haven't eaten." He explained, accompanied by a loud growl from his stomach and a seriously wild eyed Ivan staring at a plate of pasta with tomato sauce being carried past them. "Both of us." Yaden added, to emphasise. 

"Oh my god!" Antonio exclaimed. "Sit!" he then commanded, pointing at a small, free table right next to the kitchen entrance. Without further ado he grabbed the whole heating tub of pasta from behind the bar, poured a pot of sauce on top of it and hauled it over to the table.

Whatever else Yaden or Ivan might have wanted to say was drowned out by the need to eat. They grabbed spoons and forks and dug in.


	2. Chapter 2

The pasta was gone in no time and quickly replaced with a huge bowl of spareribs. That apparently gave Antonio enough time to prepare some real food. A platter heaped with steaks appeared, accompanied by more pasta, fried potatoes, several pizzas stacked on top of each other and another platter with various fried vegetables.

Ivan ate with single minded determination.

He couldn't remember when he had last had such divine food. Certainly not on Bora Bora, where they had lived of NutriBars. Not in the slums on Yaiciz either, where he had lived off whatever junk food he could afford. In his time as a Dracon pet, he had been fed with scraps and bits from his masters' table. But even when he had still been a stupid boy, futilely trying to please his father, food had never tasted like this.

It felt like he was shovelling life back into himself.

Only when he nimbly snagged the last of the steaks out from under Smelly's fork did he realize with slight shock that he had by now eaten way more than could physically fit into his stomach. And he didn't feel full. On the contrary, he was just slowly getting to the point where he wasn't so ravenously hungry any more that he was wondering if anybody would miss one of the waiters if he dragged him off to a quiet corner and devoured him.

He looked up at the man across from him who didn't look like Smelly at all anymore. Apart from the fact that he did. The amused sparkle in his eyes and the grin were still the same. The filth was gone, though, and so was most of the hair. Most surprisingly, Smelly looked much younger now than Ivan had thought he was, only a few years older than himself.

But this was not Smelly, he reminded himself. His name was Yaden. Sir Yaden. A real genuine fucking Phoenix Knight.

Not quite sure how to deal with that, he instead concentrated on his more pressing question.

"Uh… where exactly are we putting all that food?" he asked while at the same cutting off a piece of steak and shoving it into his mouth. "I mean…" He gestured with the fork at his stomach.

Yaden laughed. "Ivan, really?" he asked back with that same amused reproach he always used when Ivan had just asked something amazingly stupid. "You just fought demons and burst into flames and you wonder where the food goes?"

Looking at it from that angle, it admittedly was a rather minor concern. Ivan shrugged and focused his full attention back on the steak. Or he tried to, but now that he had emerged from his feeding frenzy, other questions started to intrude on his simple pleasure of eating.

Like, what would happen to him now?

Yaden hadn't left him on Bora Bora, but that didn't mean he planned to keep his promise of teaching Ivan. After all he probably had a million more important things to do, like being a Phoenix Knight and getting married. And what noble worth the title kept a promise given to a slave, anyway?

He glanced up at Yaden again and found the other man watching him. He tried to find something cocky or snarky to say, but Yaden was the one who spoke first.

"We need to talk." He stated calmly. "About your future."

So there it was. It was probably the moment were the food on his plate should have started looking less appetizing and his stomach should have clenched in fear. Instead, all he could think of was running through endless tunnels deep in the bowels of Bora Bora and still exchanging snarky banter and laughing with Yaden when they were fighting for their lives.

He hadn't known that this was what he wanted. But now he knew and he wanted more of it. He could still beg for it, though, when Yaden told him what he intended to do with him.

And in the meantime, there was more food to eat.

"The way I see it, there's two choices." Yaden explained, nibbling on a slice of bread thickly covered in some sort of garlic spread. "Either you escape. And I do mean escape. I'll take you some place where you can get away and no one can pick up your trail again."

Ivan blinked at him in surprise. Had that Phoenix Knight just offered to break imperial law on his behalf? "You would help a slave run away?" he asked, just to be sure.

Yaden nodded seriously. "Listen, I don't know what someone thought you did to end up in that hell hole of Bora Bora. But you didn't deserve to be there. Phoenix Knights are supposed to help the good guys. So that's what I'll do."

There was a stubborn note in Yaden's voice that clearly told Ivan that he would go through with it, no matter what the consequences. He just was that kind of guy. That Ivan would have done the exact same thing in Yaden's place made it even harder to think that he would lose his chance to spend more time with Yaden if he ran.

"So what's the other choice?" he asked, trying to suppress any hope.

"You can stay with me." Yaden said quietly.

"As what?" Ivan asked back. Because that was what it came down to.

Now insecurity flickered in Yaden's eyes. "Well… I… I suppose you could be a house slave, or a pet… or something." He said.

Ivan's lips curled in bitter memory. He would never again be a pet to a noble. He'd die before he submitted willingly.

"Or you could…" Yaden drew a deep breath. "You could become my squire." He then offered like he didn't believe Ivan would ever accept that.

Ivan stared at him in disbelief for only a second.

"YES!" he then exclaimed.

Yaden stared at him in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "I mean, do you understand what that means? You saw what happened on Bora Bora. All my missions are like that. Or worse. A mess. Demons, monsters, weirdness, fighting for your life. You'll have to train your psi, you'll have to become fucking awesome to survive…"

"God, Yaden, YES! A million times yes! There is nothing I want more." Ivan cut him short.

"Oh." Yaden said softly and now he was smiling. "Well, then… squire it is." He popped another piece of bread into his mouth and frowned slightly. "We'll have to convince General Hamilton. And the Emperor." He amended. "And Colin, obviously. That would be really awkward if he didn't approve."

It took Ivan a moment to place the last name. "Your fiancé?" he then asked. Whatever it took to make it work, Ivan was more than willing to do it. "Anything in particular I should or shouldn't do?"

Like Yaden, he continued eating, all his earlier anxiety blown away. He should have felt appropriately cowed by the idea of being the squire to a Phoenix Knight, but all he did feel was fierce determination and the knowledge that together, they could overcome anything.

"Saying something nice about his bread will go a long way in winning him over." Yaden suggested, comfortably falling back into the way they have been talking to each other on Bora Bora. Not like noble and slave or knight and squire, not quite teacher and student either, but two friends making plans.

Ivan grinned as he realized that was what they were, what he wanted them to be.

"Better don't ask him how we met." Yaden continued. "Oh and DON'T mention his slave collar."

"Slave collar?" Ivan raised a quizzical eyebrow. "I thought you said he was a baker on Leichnam?"

Yaden groaned and rubbed his face with some remembered mishap. "It was… complicated. I met him on my first mission, need I say more? Just watch the movie when it comes out."

Of course Ivan knew that there were movies about Phoenix Knights. He had watched plenty of Sir Rage movies when he had been a rich kid. But to sit across from a man who apparently had his life turned into movies was disconcerting. It must have been visible on his face, for Yaden suddenly smirked.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll make a movie of this mission, too. After all, they'll have to explain where I got my squire. And it sure will make a nice action flick." He said.

Ivan tried to wrap his mind around that and failed. Instead he grabbed some more bread and started mopping up the leftover sauce of the pasta. His hunger was sated, but not to the point where he felt a need to stop eating.

"Colin really is a nice guy." Yaden continued in his advice. "As long as you treat him with respect I don't think there will be any trouble."

Ivan nodded. "I'll be on my best behaviour."

Yaden stretched back, clearly done with his meal. "Do you want more food?" he asked.

With a little sigh Ivan shook his head. He felt like he could have gone on eating just for the pure pleasure of it an hour longer, but he was slowly starting to feel positively stuffed and he had no doubt that his new master would feed him regularly and in the quantities his newly developed talents required.

"Then we should go see General Hamilton." Yaden suggested. "The sooner we get this sorted out the better." He waved to Antonio, who quickly made his way over to their table. "Thank you." He told the shop's owner. "As ever, you are a saviour."

Antonio grinned at both of them happily. "You are always most welcome, Sir." He said. "No better advertisement than being the primary feeding grounds of a Phoenix Knight."

He nodded over at the bar. Only now did Ivan notice a large, framed photo hanging there, showing Antonio himself and Yaden, who was grinning widely and giving a two thumbs up sign at the camera.

"I'll make sure you get a photo of my new squire here to hang beside it, once the PR team has come up with a look for him." Yaden promised the man.

"Your new squire?" Antonio smiled at Ivan. "Congratulations, young man!"

"Thank you." Ivan nodded politely if somewhat distractedly, wondering who the PR team might be and what they would do with him. He kept that question to himself until they had left the shop behind and were on their way back to the elevator. "PR team?" he then asked Yaden.

"Part of the crew of the Phoenix Knight Tower." Yaden explained. "The guys who design all those collectible mugs, posters, movies and who also come up with the unique look for each Phoenix Knight. And their squires." He grimaced. "They are a pain in the ass, but there is no point fighting them. Just nod along as long as they don't get too obnoxious."

Ivan digested that information while they returned to the tower. He had never really thought about how a Phoenix Knight actually worked. To the public eye, they just appeared when a hero was needed, did awesome stuff, signed autographs, smiled for the cameras and disappeared again. It made sense that they needed a whole crew organizing and supporting them, though. Truth be told, it was quite fascinating.

The thought of a whole team of people moulding him to a look they deemed fitting for a Phoenix Knight squire wasn't exactly pleasant, but Ivan had no doubt that it would be a lot nicer than what he had endured at the hands of his relatives as a Dracon pet.

The corridors of the Phoenix Knight Tower were quite busy with various people hurrying here and there. Most of them looked perfectly ordinary while other were rather weird, like a trio of girls dressed up as exotic dancers complete with glitter, nipple tassels and little bells around their ankles, but also carrying huge plasma rifles. Yaden didn't pay them any attention, so Ivan followed that example.

They stopped in front of a door that looked like any other door in that corridor, apart from the fact that opposite it, a huge slab of concrete obviously served as a waiting bench. The little brass sign on the door simply read 'General Hamilton'. Yaden knocked.

The answer came immediately. "Come in."

The office behind the door was rather small and quite obviously not for show. Stacks of files, data discs and other data storing devices were predominant, but there were also boxes of various items. The walls were covered with bookcases. The large desk was at the centre of the room with two visitor chairs in front of it.

The man behind the desk looked to be in his late sixties, short and heavy set, nearly bald, with a crisply cut beard. He wore a uniform Ivan didn't recognize. The most notable thing about him were his sharp eyes. He looked like a man who didn't miss anything and who one should better not mess with.

"General." Yaden greeted him with a polite but not very military salute.

The General smiled. "Yaden, welcome back, my boy." Then his gaze settled on Ivan, who carefully remained a step behind his knight. "And who is this?"

"This is Ivan." Yaden introduced him. "He's going to be my squire."

Ivan had the sinking feeling that maybe a more gentle introduction to the idea would have been better. But he should have known. Yaden was always rather direct. He shifted uncomfortably under the piercing eyes of General Hamilton, suddenly very aware of everything he had done in his time as a gang leader in the slums of Yaiciz and of the fact that he hadn't been entirely honest to Yaden about his origin.

"Is that so?" General Hamilton didn't exactly look enthusiastic. "You did notice that he is a slave and a criminal?"

Yaden shrugged. "I don't care what he apparently is. I know he is a good man."

His honest conviction made Ivan shiver. Yaden trusted him. And he'd do anything, everything to prove that trust wasn't misplaced.

The General rubbed his brow. "Yaden… what do you actually know about him?" He then turned to Ivan. "What did you do to end up on Bora Bora?"

"Runaway slave, Sir." Ivan answered truthfully, omitting his suspicion that his sister had made sure he ended up in the mines.

"He is also a powerful psion." Yaden added. "Visceral pyrokinetic."

General Hamilton looked back and forth between them, obviously trying to gauge how serious Yaden was. "Anything in your past that will be trouble, boy?" he then asked Ivan

"Nothing we won't be able to deal with, Sir." Yaden answered before Ivan could open his mouth, saving him from saying anything about Anita and the fact that he was a nephew of the duke of Yaiciz.

He was right, though, Ivan realized with a start. With Yaden training him, he actually had a fighting chance against his sister. Hell, with Yaden in his corner, he would stomp her into the ground.

"What makes you think you are qualified to become Yaden's squire?" General Hamilton asked Ivan, but he could see that the General was already giving up on his objections.

"I'll defend him with my life, Sir." Ivan answered calmly.

"Yeah, and we make a great team." Yaden's grin was infectious and Ivan found himself grinning back at his knight. His friend.

"Right." General Hamilton groaned. "Li Ma!!" he then bellowed at the door which Yaden hadn't even bothered closing.

Moments later, a Jehanni woman hurried in. She was dressed in a similar uniform as the General. "Sir?" she asked, looked shy and hectic at the same time.

"Get me a copy of the ‘new squire’ to-do list." the General ordered. "Actually, get me two. And inform the Quartermaster, Accounting and the PR team that Sir Yaden has a squire now." He then turned back to Yaden. "You can work through the list after you have gone home. Spend some time with your fiancé before he kills someone."

"Ouch." Yaden grimaced. "I'm sorry, Sir. Has Colin hurt anyone…?"

"Not yet." General Hamilton mirrored Yaden grimace. "And I would like to keep it that way. Do talk to him about the wedding. Leaving him to sort it out with PR maybe wasn't the best idea."

Yaden nodded meekly. "Yes, Sir."

Then the Jehanni woman came back in and handed the General a printed list. General Hamilton held both copies out to Ivan who obediently picked them up. “Can you read?” the General asked briskly, smirking as Ivan nodded yes. "You can read them to your knight, then. At least one less thing for me to worry about."

Ivan gaped at Yaden. "You can't read?" He asked incredulously.

"Not very well." Yaden shrugged a little sheepishly. "There were always more important things to learn."

"You can work all that out somewhere else." General Hamilton made shooing motions towards the door. "Settle in your squire, calm your fiancé and I'll contact you when I have a new mission for you."

"Aye, sir." Yaden repeated his salute and Ivan mirrored him and then followed his knight out of the office.

His knight.

Ivan smiled quietly. He was a Phoenix Knight squire now. It felt good. It would have felt unreal if Yaden hadn't been walking right next to him. Actually, it was the past, being a slave, helpless, a failure, which felt unreal. Now he felt strong, hopeful. Like all the jagged puzzle pieces of his life had finally, suddenly just fallen into place and fit.

"That went pretty well." Yaden commented, sounding content himself.

They headed for another elevator. Ivan really had no idea of what was where yet in the maze of the tower - and this was just one tower of the Imperial Palace. He'd have to learn quickly or he would get hopelessly lost.

While they travelled upward with the elevator, Ivan had a quick look at the to-do list. It was mostly various people they needed to see, like Accounting to pick up his ID-card and probably proper ownership documents, too.

They emerged into a much quieter corridor. Living quarters, Ivan guessed, since Yaden had been ordered to go home. Ivan had never thought about where Phoenix Knights lived, but it kind of made sense for them to live here at the palace. After all, they had to be available on short notice.

"Okay," Yaden said, stopping in front of one door, "remember what I said?"

"Don't ask how you met, don't mention the slave collar, treat him respectfully." Ivan listed dutifully.

Yaden nodded and drew a deep breath. He looked too cute, gathering his courage like he was about to face a dragon. Then he opened the door and went inside.

The room they entered was a large living room with furniture that looked rather standardized to Ivan. Probably, the apartments in the palace came furnished and Yaden hadn't lived here long enough to add personal touches. Several doors led to other parts of the apartment.

"Hello?" Yaden called, "I'm home."

For a moment, nothing happened, but then a man emerged from what Ivan guessed to be the kitchen, judging from the rather delicious smell of fresh bread wafting his way. Ivan only caught a glimpse of tanned skin, a shock of black hair and intense, chocolate dark eyes.

"YADEN!" the man then exclaimed and tackled the knight.

Yaden caught him in his arms and seconds later they were locked in tight embrace, kissing like their life depended on it. Ivan watched as they started groping each other and then stumbled off towards another door, without ever stopping kissing. They disappeared through the door and the last Ivan saw of them was Yaden pushing the door closed with his foot.

So much for carefully preparing for his first meeting with Colin, Ivan thought deeply amused and closed the door to the apartment.

Only when he turned back to the room did he notice he wasn't alone. Another man had emerged from the kitchen. Though the word ‘man’ hardly did him justice. He was a hulking, coffee-skinned giant who looked like he would give any gladiator a run for his money in sheer muscle mass. And he also very much looked like he belonged here.

Ivan quickly raised his hands in a gesture of submission. "I'm Yaden's new squire, Ivan." He explained so he wouldn't be mistaken for a trespasser.

That earned him a raised eyebrow. "Really?" The giant asked with a deep, rumbling voice that fit him perfectly. "I'll take a guess: he brought you back from his latest mission?"

Ivan nodded, wondering at the slightly sarcastic tone in the other man's voice.

"We'll need a bigger apartment if he keeps this up." The giant grumbled and then turned back into the kitchen, beckoning Ivan to follow him.

"And who are you?" Ivan dared to ask as he stepped into the kitchen, where the giant was pulling a pot from the stove.

That earned him a huge grin. "I'm Darren," the other man answered, "Yaden's nanny."

Ivan stared at him incredulously. But the longer he thought about it, the more sense it made that an extraordinary psion like Yaden would need an extraordinary nanny. And considering he didn't read well, it also made sense he would keep that nanny around even in his adult life. He now also noticed the simple, leather slave collar on Darren's neck.

"Okay… cool." He finally said, at a loss what else might be an appropriate response. "I'm a psion, like Yaden." He added, feeling like he should explain why he was worthy of being Yaden's squire.

Darren's reaction wasn't quite what he had expected. "A visceral?" He asked immediately, a frown appearing on his brow.

Ivan nodded.

"Did he feed you?" Darren asked, already heading for the fridge.

"Yeah, we went to a shop in the food court and ate pretty much everything they had." Ivan grinned at the memory. Then he frowned as well as his stomach rumbled hungrily. Staring at it in confusion, he said in a much less confident voice: "I can't be hungry again…"

Darren carried an armful of various food items over to the kitchen table. "Sit." He commanded and Ivan obeyed. "Yes, you can be hungry again." He explained with the calm authority of someone who knew exactly what they were talking about. "I also work out Yaden's nutrition plans. I know what he needs and I'll figure out what you need, too." He effortlessly switched to caring and reassuring. "If you are hungry again already, you must have used a lot of psi lately?"

"We fought demons and some tunnel rats." Ivan said, hoping that wouldn't sound too strange. "And I did a lot of things I've never done before." He shrugged. "I didn't even know I really had any psi before Yaden showed me how to use it."

"Mmh." Darren cut thick slices of bread and started heaping them with cheese, ham and an assortment of vegetables, instantly making Ivan's mouth water. "You look like you have Jehanni ancestors…"

Ivan had no idea what that had to do with his psi, but he nodded. His mother was Jehanni, after all.

Darren pushed the finished giant sandwich over to him. "Eat, kid." He commanded with a mix of paternal care and medical sternness.

That was an order Ivan gladly obeyed. The first bite was as heavenly as that first fork of pasta had been. Eating a lot to fuel his psi really wouldn't be much of a burden if it always resulted in such pure pleasure. He didn't pay much attention to Darren, who was rummaging in the fridge again, until the giant placed a tall glass of juice in front of Ivan.

"Try this." He suggested.

Ivan took a big gulp of the juice, not expecting anything special. When it hit his tongue it felt like an electric current running through his whole body. The citrus taste hit him like an avalanche with the overwhelming need for more. He emptied the glass without drawing breath once. His whole body tingled with pleasure and he was a little embarrassed to notice that his toes were curling with it.

He stared at Darren with open wonder. "God, what is that stuff?"

"Orange juice." Darren answered with a chuckle. He refilled the glass to the brink.

Ordinary orange juice. Ivan had no idea why his body would react like he had just been handed mana from heaven, but he saw no reason to deny himself a repeat of that pleasure. This time he drank slower, savouring it. The juice settled in his stomach bringing with it satisfying warmth.

Like suddenly everything was muffled and pleasant and not urgent at all anymore. He blinked at Darren, wondering how he could get this sleepy this quickly. The last thing he noticed was the knowing grin on Darren's face, then he succumbed to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Yaden came wide awake, chiding himself that falling asleep so deeply while on a mission in hostile company was criminally careless. That only lasted a second, though, then his senses reassured him of the slow, even pulse of a planetary mass much greater than Bora Bora. Next, he realized that he wasn't lying on familiar, mouldable rock, but on a soft, rather comfortable bed. And finally there was the warm, male scent in his nose that to him was synonymous with home and happiness - Colin.

He opened his eyes to find the man he loved snuggled against him with his head resting on Yaden's chest, deeply asleep.

Somehow Yaden managed to resist the urge to pull his lover closer against him and hug him as tightly as possible.

While he was endlessly wandering through the tunnels of Bora Bora he had been too preoccupied to think much about Colin, but now that he had him back, it felt like he was catching up on all the missing of his lover he had skipped while he was on his mission.

Gently, he carded his fingers through Colin's thick black hair. Knowing that Colin had missed him just as much was at once fiercely satisfying and made his heart ache.

It made him wonder how he had ever lived without his lover. Colin made him complete in a way he hadn't been able to imagine.

That thought stirred another memory, though. Falling into Colin's arms he had completely forgotten about Ivan. A glance at the clock on the nightstand told Yaden that it was late evening now. He had slept a little over three hours. Cursing silently, Yaden tried to extricate himself without waking his lover. Colin muttered in his sleep and tried to hold on to him.

"Love, I'll just get some food." Yaden used the excuse Colin always accepted.

Colin blinked up at him sleepily. "'Can make you some sandwiches…" he murmured, barely awake.

Yaden leaned back down and kissed him. "Don't bother, love. I'll be right back."

Grumbling, Colin pulled the pillow Yaden had been lying on closer and buried his face in it. He was the most beautiful thing Yaden had ever seen, and for a long moment he just stood there watching him.

Then he reminded himself that he had an obligation to his new squire as well. He picked up his pants from where they had been discarded on the way to the bed and put them on, but didn't bother with any other clothes. He slipped from the room as quietly as possible to find Ivan.

He didn't have to look far. Ivan was sleeping peacefully on the couch in the living room, carefully tucked in under a woollen blanket. Seeing him truly relaxed in his sleep, he looked even younger to Yaden and he realized that he felt fiercely protective of his friend. There really was only one suspect who could have put him there.

Entering the kitchen, Yaden found Darren sitting at the table, with several open books spread around him, reading and taking notes.

"Hey." Yaden greeted him softy. Throughout the years Darren had become more of a parent to him than his mother or father had ever been.

Darren looked up at him with a warm smile. "Hey, Yaden. Welcome home." He returned the greeting.

Yaden made his way over to the fridge. Now that he was awake and up anyway it wouldn't hurt to get a snack. Or four. "Thanks for taking care of Ivan." He said, carrying the left over pasta over to the microwave to heat it. "Are you figuring out what to feed him?"

"Yeah." Darren tapped his notes with his pen thoughtfully. "He'll need different things than you. More fruit definitely. His reaction to orange juice was quite amazing. He dropped asleep like hit with a brick."

Yaden shrugged. "No surprise there. It was more surprising he was still awake at all after everything. I think he was running purely on adrenaline." He smiled fondly, which did not escape Darren. His next question took Yaden completely by surprise, though.

"Are you fucking him?" Darren asked matter-of-factly.

"What?" Yaden squawked. "No!"

Darren chuckled at his reaction. "He is a cute kid, you have to admit that."

It wasn't something Yaden had paid much attention to. There were too many other things about Ivan that were important to him.

"My cover identity on Bora Bora wasn't exactly appealing." He tried to deflect any further discussion of the subject. "And he used to be a Dracon pet. I don't think he would be interested."

It didn't have the desired success. "So you might be interested?" Darren inquired.

"No. I am perfectly happy with Colin." Yaden frowned at Darren. "Why the sudden wish to pop me into bed with random people?"

Darren sighed dramatically. "Futile hope that we might make a proper Dracon of you yet?" he suggested. "I mean, you are getting married to your first ever boyfriend. Shouldn't you at least fuck around a tiny little bit?"

That made Yaden laugh. "Sorry, no such luck." The microwave pinged and Yaden extracted his snack. He settled down opposite of Darren and started eating.

"So how was the mission?" Darren changed the topic.

"Fun!" Yaden answered with a huge grin.

Apparently not quite the response Darren had expected for he raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Oh?" he prompted.

Talking simultaneously to stuffing his mouth with food was a feat Yaden had mastered years ago. "It was great. Having someone along who understands me. Fighting together. I don't think I've ever had this much fun."

Darren glanced towards the living room, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You've made a friend?" he asked, sounding delighted.

Yaden nodded slowly. "I hope so." He said. "I think so." He then corrected. "We'll make a socially properly functioning human being of me yet, maybe."

He smiled at Darren, as his huge hand settled over Yaden's still much smaller one. "I'm happy for you. Very happy." Darren said, his eyes shining. For a moment they just remained like that, sharing the feeling of quiet accomplishment.

Then they were interrupted by Colin's still sleepy voice. "Who's the cute kid on our couch?" he asked, wandering into the kitchen.

Wearing nothing but faded, grey sleeping shorts and that cursed slave collar he was still required to keep on, he looked impossibly good to Yaden. He thought that if he hadn't been madly in love anyway, he would have fallen in love right then and there.

"Yaden brought him back from his mission to become his squire." Darren answered when Yaden just kept drinking in the sight of his lover.

"Mmh…" Colin frowned slightly and came over to Yaden to lean against his chair. There was a clear note of jealously in his voice.

Yaden wrapped his arms around Colin's hip and leaned his head against him. "He's a psion, like me." He explained. "A pyrokinetic. I will teach him how to use his talents and he guards my back." He smiled up at Colin as charmingly as he could. "He makes sure I come back to you alive."

That made Colin smile. "I suppose as long as that is all he does…"

Darren chuckled while Yaden huffed indignantly. "Why does everyone think I'm fucking him?"

"Maybe because he IS cute?" Colin suggested, ruffling Yaden's hair affectionately.

Now it was Yaden's turn to smirk. "So YOU think he's cute?"

Colin shrugged, unimpressed. "Not my type. I like ordinary guys with half-god like powers." He answered and then leaned down to kiss Yaden.

Yaden didn't let him escape right away, but kept kissing him, enjoying the slight scratch of stubble, the taste of his lover. When they did separate it was with a sigh from both of them.

"I missed you." Colin said softly. "I will miss you every time you have to go." Once again he looked towards the living room. "It will be good to know that someone is watching your back. You can keep him."

"Thank you, love."

Yaden wasn't entirely sure what he would have done if Colin had hated the idea of having Ivan around. It wasn't something he wanted to contemplate.

Colin nudged him. "Are you done eating?" he asked with a decidedly hungry glint of his own in his eyes.

"Aye." Yaden gladly let Colin pull him to his feet and drag him off back to the bedroom with a short goodnight wave to Darren.

They toppled onto their bed together, kissing and touching. A few hours earlier, their love making had been frenzied, starved as they had been for each other. Now it was slow and sensual, both of them enjoying the slow re-mapping of familiar territory.

It reminded Yaden of the first night they had spent together in the small bedroom over Colin's bakery. How they had shyly explored each other, neither of them entirely able to believe something so wonderful was happening to them. Somehow that wonder hadn't faded for either of them. Each time they made love it came back like a warm glow between them.

While he had been on top when they had come together earlier, Yaden now rolled onto his back, stretching beneath Colin, inviting him to do whatever he pleased. He needed this, needed these moments of not being in charge, of fully surrendering himself to his lover's care. He didn't need to explain either. Colin smiled at him, knowing exactly what he was asking for.

Colin's loving touches reeled in Yaden, pulling back all his senses into his body. The slow pulse of P2, the vague sense of moving objects in orbit, the shifting of weather pattern in the atmosphere, all that slowly receded as Yaden's world condensed into one thing only - Colin.

His body and mind sang with pleasure as his lover took him.

"Mine." Colin whispered in his ear, claiming him in every possible sense.

"Always." Yaden answered just as softly.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the passionate love making he and Colin had shared in the night, Yaden was up early on the next morning. His native Pandora had a shorter day cycle than P2 and he was still trying to get used to sleeping longer after moving to P2 barely a year ago. That he had spent quite a bit of that time on mission first on Leichnam and then on Bora Bora didn't help in teaching his body the new routine, either.

Not that he minded getting up first. It gave him the chance to prepare breakfast for those he loved. He would never be as good a cook as Darren or Colin, but he was wide awake in the morning when they were still grumpy zombies, and able to make for each of them what they liked best.

An assortment of fruit, cleaned and cut up into bite sized chunks for Darren, accompanied by a huge bowl of yogurt were easily prepared in advance. Colin just wanted toasted bread and sweet jam. And of course a huge pot of tea for all of them.

His own breakfast had proved a little more difficult. Clearly they had not expected him back and only stocked the fridge for people with a normal appetite. So Yaden had opted for a huge pan of scrambled eggs and put all the remaining bacon to fry into a second pan. After all, he had to feed Ivan as well. He'd have to find out what his new squire liked best and coordinate that with what Darren deemed the best diet for Ivan.

Now Yaden stood at the huge window taking up one whole wall of the kitchen, warming his hands on a mug of tea. It overlooked the downtown area of Imperial City with countless roofs, green with moss. Not that there was any kind of colour but grey out there at the moment. A fine drizzle was blowing into the city from the sea. The kind of weather that crept into clothes and skin and made you freeze just looking at it.

Yaden felt severely tempted to do something about it, but the weather pattern that brought on the rain was stubbornly stable. He wouldn't have minded the effort of bending it to his will, but he had been reprimanded before for messing with the weather here.

With a sigh, he turned back to the kitchen and found Ivan standing in the doorway, exuding a mix of curiosity and caution. He reminded Yaden of a cat exploring new territory for the first time.

"Good morning." Yaden greeted him cheerfully.

That seemed to be enough of a reassurance for Ivan to venture into the kitchen. He came over to the window and looked out as well, clearly impressed by the view over Imperial City.

"Did you sleep well?" Yaden asked and headed over to the table to pour his squire a mug of tea.

"Like a baby." Ivan answered, sounding somewhat surprised.

Yaden smiled. "Exhaustion does that to you." He supplied and handed Ivan the tea.

Ivan thanked him and then hungrily eyed the pans with hot food on the stove. "Will I always be eating like yesterday from now on?" he asked.

"I expect you to train hard every day so, yes, you will." Yaden answered. "Once we have all the squire stuff sorted, I want to run a few tests with you, so we get a clearer picture of what you can and can't do. Then I'll make a proper training schedule for your psi. But I expect the Tower will have a heap of other stuff they will want you to study." Yaden grinned at Ivan. "You'll be working your ass off. And that will be when we are not on missions."

Ivan saluted him with his mug. "Looking forward to it, sir." He said and clearly meant it.

They both settled at the table and Yaden evenly divided eggs, bacon and bread between them.

"Shouldn't I be serving you or something?" Ivan asked after a few forks of food had already found their way into his mouth.

Yaden shrugged. "Darren and Colin will both tell you I'm a terrible noble. I can't be bothered with all that status crap."

"You won't see me complaining." Ivan said and that seemed to conclude the topic for him as he concentrated on wolfing down his breakfast again.

He seemed relaxed to Yaden. All the angry anxiousness he had exhibited on Bora Bora was blown away and replaced by calm eagerness to start his new life. Yaden looked forward to getting started himself, but there were a few things he needed to take care of first.

Like conjured up by his thought, Colin shuffled into the room sleepily. It never failed to amaze Yaden how a baker, of all professions, could be such a morning grouch. He had learned that it was safer not to talk to Colin until he had his first few sips of tea. This morning, he was smiling though, and after he had poured himself a mug of tea, he came over to Yaden to kiss his brow.

"Morning, love," he murmured, "missed this."

Yaden used the opportunity to pull his lover onto his lap to cuddle and kiss. The more he managed to pacify Colin, the better, but this morning Colin apparently was more interested in the new member of their little family.

"So you are the new squire." He stated, curiously studying Ivan without leaving Yaden's embrace.

Ivan had the good grace to swallow his latest mouthful of food before answering. He did have quite good manners for a runaway pet turned street ganger, Yaden mused.

"Yes, sir." He answered, quite obviously trying his best to be a model slave to gain Colin's approval.

Colin chuckled. "No need to convince me." He said amiably. "I've already given my permission for you to stay. And you really don't have to call me 'sir'. Colin will be just fine."

Ivan nodded, but he also threw a quick glance at Yaden to check for his approval.

"Now, there is really only one thing that needs to be clear between us," Colin continued, "I expect you to keep my husband alive. If you ever return without him I will kill you so slowly you will wish you had never been born." Colin's voice left now doubt about how serious he was.

Neither did Ivan's. "I will die before he does."

Their calm conviction gave Yaden the chills. He really didn't feel like he deserved such protection or sacrifice, but he also was quite sure arguing would be futile.

"Good." Colin smiled, back in his cheerful voice. "In that case I'm sure we'll get along great."

Time to tackle the first of today's challenges.

"Love, we need to talk." Yaden began cautiously. "About the wedding."

Instantly Colin's expression darkened and his eyes grew stormy.

"And that is my cue to go have a long, hot date with the shower." Ivan fled the kitchen with remarkable speed and grace.

"General Hamilton asked me to talk to you about the wedding. Apparently you and the PR team have a few… disagreements…?" Yaden forged ahead fearlessly.

The sound Colin made could only be called an angry hiss and Yaden quickly let go of him so his agitated lover could pace the kitchen. Several times he drew breath to form a reply and then just growled again.

"Okay…" Yaden tried to put as much calm in his voice as he felt. He honestly had no idea what could be so damn complicated about getting married, but if it was a problem for Colin he would eradicate it, one way or another. "The last thing I talked about with you was that I would like my uncle Steven to officiate at the wedding. What has happened since then?"

"I… they… I just don't know how…" Colin helplessly threw his arms up. "I just want you to be happy!"

Yaden got up, gently caught his lover in his arms and held him close. "Love. I am happy. I couldn't be happier."

"No!" Colin looked like he didn't know whether he was furious or despairing. "I mean, yes… but not that. About the wedding!"

"Colin. I care about being married to you." Yaden tried to calm him down, still trying to figure out what exactly the problem was. "Not how we get there."

"Gnah!" His lover exclaimed and freed himself from Yaden's embrace to start pacing again. "That's no help! They are asking all these questions and I don't know what the right answer is and… and… you were not here!"

The thought that the PR team had put his lover under so much pressure that they had reduced him to this nervous wreck made silent anger growl in his heart, but he remained perfectly calm outside. "What kind of questions?" he asked.

"Like: are we going to get married in the chapel here at the palace or in the cathedral in the city?"

Yaden blinked at him in consternation. He wasn't even sure he knew enough people to invite not to make the chapel look rather empty. "The cathedral? Whatever would we need the cathedral for?" he voiced his confusion. "Did you want to invite that many people?"

"Me?!" Colin snorted. He grabbed Yaden by the wrist and pulled him into the living room. There he dragged out a laundry basket filled with files and notes and books from behind the couch. After quickly rummaging through it he produced one thick folder and one small note. He waved the note in Yaden's face. "These are the people I would like to come." He then dropped the heavy folder onto the coffee table. "And this is who the PR team insists must come. Only the essential people. I have another folder of the people they think would be good to invite."

Yaden looked from the folder to Colin and back. He was fully aware that by becoming a Phoenix Knight he had pretty much signed over his public life to the Empire. But there were certain lines he expected to be respected. This was definitely crossing one of those lines.

"We are getting married in the chapel." He decided calmly.

"We are?" Suddenly all panic seemed to drain out of Colin and he dropped onto the couch. "Oh, good."

Yaden settled next to him and gently took his hand. "Love, I will help any way I can. If you want me to make decisions, I will. If you want me to let you decide everything, I will be happy with whatever you chose. I love you. All I care about is being with you."

Colin sighed deeply and rested his head against Yaden's shoulder. "I think I was just kind of working myself into a panic with you not here." He said after a while, much calmer. "This is all still very new."

"Yeah, and the PR team is bat-shit crazy." Yaden added.

That finally made Colin laugh softly "That they are."

For a while they just sat there, quietly enjoying each others presence.

"There are a few things I'd like to decide together with you." Colin said after a while. "But I think I can handle most of it now." He glanced up at Yaden with what Yaden had mentally tagged as his 'melting chocolate look'. "Will you make nice weather for us? For the wedding?" he asked.

"If I get permission." Yaden grinned. "They usually get really annoyed when I mess with the weather."

Colin growled. "They better be thankful about some sunshine for their precious holo-vid spectacle."

"I'm going down to see them with Ivan anyway. I'll talk to them." Yaden offered. "And I'll tell them if they upset you again I'll bury them alive two miles beneath the palace." The glint in Colin's eyes told him that his lover approved wholeheartedly. "Do we have a date for the wedding, yet?"

"In about three months."

"What?" Yaden grunted with annoyance. "What is taking them so fucking long?" He plucked at the slave collar around Colin's neck. "I want this damned thing off you!"

It was Colin's turn to smirk. "It will be twelve weeks after the premiere of your movie. Their marketing division has calculated that interest in you will be at a peak then and the holo transmission of the wedding will give your another great push."

Yaden wasn't sure what he found more disturbing - that his wedding was timed with a movie version of his life or that he for a change agreed with the PR teams planning. Then he realized what Colin's words also meant. "Wait, what? The premiere is like… now?"

Colin nodded. "This weekend. I bet they are real happy you are back in time so you can appear on the red carpet." He smiled. "It is kind of weird, but I have to admit the movie is really nice… romantic… not very accurate though."

"You've seen it already?" Yaden couldn't help a little envy creeping into his voice. Since he hadn't been involved in the movie making process at all he hadn't really expected Colin to be.

"I insisted." Colin snorted. "I wanted to be sure they didn't have anything totally stupid in it. But apart from the actor who plays you it's pretty okay."

"Uh… what is wrong with the actor who plays me?" Yaden asked cautiously. Maybe it would have been a good idea to pay more attention to the project after all.

Now Colin laughed. "You haven't seen him? Wait, I think I have a poster somewhere in here…" He dug in the basket once more and after a little while produced a rolled up poster. "Prepare to be wowed." He said and unrolled it.

Yaden started at the scene presented to him in consternation. The central figure was a tall, athletic, dark haired man with an intense scowl, who held someone who looked quite like Colin protectively in one arm while flinging a huge boulder at winged demon witches circling above.

"Erh… is that supposed to be me…?" Yaden asked even though it was rather obvious. After all, the hero was wearing Yaden iconographic outfit.

Colin snickered. "Indeed. They reasoned it would be good for your undercover missions if he didn't look like you at all."

"Right." That actually made sense. Yaden was fully aware that he looked like a perfectly ordinary guy and that General Hamilton was quite delighted by that fact. After all he couldn't send Sir Rage or Sir Relais on undercover missions. It was still rather weird. It wasn't like he wanted to be famous, but there was a bit of friendly competition between the Phoenix Knights. "I hope his mug sales count for the mug-o-meter…" he mused aloud.

"What the hell is a mug-o-meter?" Colin asked confused.

"Oh, it's the way we measure which Phoenix Knight is most famous." Yaden explained, rather amused himself. "It's a big chart in the Phoenix Knight lounge where we keep track of who has sold the most collectible mugs. Obviously Sir Rage has a pretty much unbeatable lead."

"Well, I'm sure you will catch up to him eventually." Colin stated with entirely serious and somewhat haughty pride.


	5. Chapter 5

Ivan was quite sure that he had never in his life enjoyed a shower as much as he enjoyed this one. It felt like ages ago when he had been a boy and a shower had been the most normal thing in the world. He certainly had never properly appreciated the pure, simple pleasure of having as much hot water as he wished beat down on him for as long as he wanted.

The crew at the Phoenix Knight Tower had done their best to wash Bora Bora off him the previous day. But this was fundamentally different, like he was washing his whole miserable life off to face his new life fresh and clean.

He had no idea how long he stayed under the water, but when he finally emerged, the bathroom was filled with fine, warm steam and the mirror over the sink was misted over.

With a smile, he stepped up to it and wiped a swab of it clean to take a look at himself. He really just wanted to check if he looked as great as he felt.

What he didn't expect were the gold-orange eyes looking back at him from his own face.

It had admittedly been a long time that he had looked into a mirror, but he was very sure that back then, his eyes had been a perfectly ordinary brown. He blinked, but that didn't change anything. In fact, he could have sworn he could detect something like tiny flame dance in his own eyes. It was extremely creepy.

He quickly wrapped the towel around his hips and left the bathroom. "Yaden?" he called and was relieved to find his Knight cuddling with his fiancé quite peacefully on the couch.

Both looked up at him curiously.

"Yaden, what's wrong with my eyes?" Ivan asked, cursing his voice for clearly showing how spooked he was.

"Wrong?" Colin answered instead of Yaden, looking surprised. "They look quite lovely."

"What?! They are supposed to be brown!" Ivan sputtered indignantly.

Thankfully Yaden was perfectly calm. He leaned forward, studied Ivan's eyes for a moment and then nodded sagely. "Considering the colouring I'd say they changed because you have finally tapped your powers. It's quite normal actually for a physical mark to appear when a psion first manifests his powers. In the last century, when psions were still ostracized by the church, such marks were called a stigma. Nowadays psions tend to wear their marks with pride."

Ivan blinked at him repeatedly. He felt rather embarrassed when he realized he actually had known that. It had been covered by the history lessons he had received from the tutors his father had hired to teach him and his sister. Psion history had pretty much been the only thing concerning psionics he had excelled at. Faced with the sudden change, he had just completely failed to connect those long unused facts with his own eyes.

"Oh." He said, feeling stupid and suddenly rather aware that he was wearing nothing but a towel and that Colin was studying him closely. He certainly didn't plan to attract that kind of attention. He almost laughed with relief when Colin spoke again.

"He really is scrawny." Yaden's fiancé commented with clear reproach directed at his husband to be. "Make sure you feed him properly and don't put him on a training schedule as murderous as yours."

"Love, yesterday he still was a mine slave." Yaden replied gently. "Do give him some time to catch up, will you?"

"You look kind of grey, too." It took Ivan a moment to recognize the expression on Colin's face as fatherly care when the other man extricated himself from Yaden's embrace and got up. "I'll go and make some sandwiches for both of you so you'll have a few snacks while the PR teams tortures you." He said and disappeared into the kitchen.

Yaden looked after him like a lovesick fool. Which obviously he was where his fiancé was concerned. Which honestly was rather sweet.

Then he turned his attention back to Ivan. "Are you ready to go then?" he asked.

"Absolutely." Ivan nodded. "Just let me get dressed."

Back in the bathroom, he once more looked into the mirror, this time studying his own eyes more closely. They actually looked pretty cool, he thought. Or more precisely, pretty hot. With a grin he decided that he would indeed wear this mark with pride. That was when he noticed his own grin for the first time. He remembered a shy, determined boy without much hope to ever succeed at anything. But the young man who smirked at him now was confident and cocky and despite being a little gaunt, he looked like he was ready to take on the whole world.

"I like you." He softly told his reflection.

Then he picked up the grey sweatpants and shirt he had been given the day before and put them back on. Not exactly fitting attire for his new self. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that the dreaded PR team would subject him to a bit of a make over. If he insisted stubbornly enough, he might be able to push them in a direction he would actually like.

He raked his brain for anything he knew about Phoenix Knight squires, but the only one who came to mind was the hulking female warrior who accompanied Sir Relais. She definitely always wore the same outfit so he expected that he would get an iconographic set of clothes just like Yaden.

When he stepped out of the bathroom for the second time, Yaden was already waiting for him, now carrying a paper bag in one hand and eating a thick sandwich from the other. Ivan was appalled to notice that he wouldn't have minded another sandwich himself despite the fact that he had just had breakfast.

"Want one?" Yaden asked with a knowing grin and held out the bag to him.

Ivan took it reluctantly, but the moment he opened the bag and the scent of fresh bread and ham hit him, he just plucked out one of the sandwiches and eagerly started devouring it.

"Don't worry," Yaden reassured him, "you really used up your reserves to the last drop. It will take a day or two to refill them to the point where you won't constantly feel hungry."

"Mmhmm." Ivan agreed through his full mouth and followed his knight out of the apartment. God, it was awesome to have a mentor who knew what he was doing and talking about.

They made their way through the living quarter's corridor back to the elevator. This time, they were joined by some other people riding down on their way to work.

It took Ivan a moment to notice that one of them was watching him. A middle aged man in typical Dracon black with that leering hunger Ivan had learned to associate with intense pain. A good slave would have hidden by his master's side. Instead Ivan glared at the noble as threateningly as he could. The reaction wasn't what he had hoped for. Instead of backing off, the noble licked his lips seductively.

Ivan was supremely grateful when they reached their floor and got out while the noble continued further down. But the episode served to bring something important to his attention.

"Yaden?" He asked. "Are you going to give me pet earrings?"

His knight blinked at him. "Whatever for? I thought we had that sorted out. You are my squire."

Ivan frowned. "Yeah, I know that. But what about all the other nobles? I mean, this palace is practically teeming with Dracon. What do I do if one of them decides to… well… use me…?" He hated calling it that, but it was true. He was a slave. And slaves were used, not raped. No matter how said slave felt about it.

Yaden snorted. "You are a Phoenix Knight squire. If they are stupid enough to mess with you they will get what they deserve. I expect you to warn them exactly once of who you are. If they still harass you, burn off their unhealthy infatuation with you." He smiled. "And I do mean burn."

"Hurm." Ivan couldn't deny how tempting that was, but it held an ugly problem. "A slave who attacks a noble is in a hell of a lot of trouble." He reminded Yaden.

"For a Phoenix Knight squire some special rules apply. After all you need to be able to do your job and that includes defending yourself." Now Yaden's smirk was downright nasty. "And just for the record: I order you to defend yourself with all means necessary." He seemed to consider that order for a moment and then amended: "But try to let them live. After all, I want to have some fun with them, too. I'm sure after the first few, interest will die down rapidly."

There was really only one proper reply to that. "Aye, sir!" Suddenly, he was very much looking forward to running into that Dracon from the elevator again. He certainly had a lot of pent up aggression towards nobles to get rid of.

"So, where do we go first?" Yaden asked and handed Ivan the to-do list they had been given the day before.

"Accounting." Ivan answered after briefly scanning it. "To get my ID-card? What is an ID-card?"

Yaden grinned. "You use that to identify yourself as someone working here in the palace. That means you get free meals in the food court. You also use the number to identify yourself to the Psions Guild. All Phoenix Knights and their family and squires have a flat rate with the Guild for private services here on P2 and reduced rates for services all over the Empire. Basically, if you have to go anywhere by port or call anyone via telepathy it's dirt cheap."

"Wow!" That was truly impressive, considering the rates normally charged by the Psions Guild.

"Yeah, well." Yaden shrugged. "The Emperor does believe in giving back some amenities to the brave idiots who risk their lives and sanity in mayhem and madness for him every day." He smirked at Ivan. "That's us, if you were wondering."

The mere thought of more insane adventures like the one they had just survived on Bora Bora let Ivan's stomach do flip-flops of excitement. He should probably have been scared as well, but all he felt was eager anticipation.

Yaden led them through the maze of corridors with the same unerring confidence he had displayed when wandering through the tunnels of Bora Bora.

The accounting division turned out to be just as unexciting as it sounded. A clerk had several forms for both of them to sign and a sheaf of papers for Yaden to read which he promptly handed to Ivan to study and then report on the most important bits. He seemed extremely pleased with the fact that he now had a squire he could pass such unpleasant, tedious details on to and Ivan couldn't bring himself to mind. If reading boring, official documents was the price he had to pay for a life of adventure and training in becoming the psion he had always longed to be that was a great trade off in his eyes.

Their next stop was the long heralded stop at the PR headquarters. They were already expected. An excited little man grabbed them right at the entrance and ushered them into a large room, containing holo-recorder and photography equipment as well as large whiteboards, boxes and stacks of props, clothes and items Ivan couldn't immediately identify.

It also held a whole pack of eager PR people who descended on Ivan like a flock of hungry crows. Before he was entirely sure what was happening to him, he had already been undressed and was being measured and poked by some of them while other took notes or started boldly sketching god knew what on their whiteboards.

Ivan looked for Yaden a little desperately and located his Knight on the sidelines, munching on another sandwich and listening to the little man who seemed to be the master of this circus.

"…already approved by the Emperor." Was all Ivan caught of what the little man was saying before his attention was riveted back to the people surrounding him.

More precisely to one young woman who was insistently tugging on his hair. "That looks horrible." She was just saying to one of her colleagues. "What was he thinking that he did that to himself?"

"As it happens there was no hair dresser readily available in the mines on Bora Bora." Ivan told her. His snark was wasted since she effortlessly ignored him.

"Roguish or stylish?" she carried on her own conversation.

"Roguish. Absolutely roguish!" her colleague exclaimed. "They are too short, though. Let me get the hypo-spray."

Ivan had no idea what they were talking about, but the mention of hypo-spray was a little disturbing. He didn't have time to worry about it, though, as other hands with a complete disregard for any sort of privacy held various articles of clothing against his body. Batting them away was like trying to bat away a sandstorm.

"…what's his role anyway?" A scrap of the conversation between Yaden and little man drifted over to him again.

"He keeps me alive while I do the heavy lifting." Yaden answered quite correctly. "You know, my first, last and only line of defence."

That sounded great to Ivan's ears. No, actually that sounded fucking awesome.

"Him?" Little man asked incredulously. "How are we going to sell that? He's just a scrawny kid."

"You think?" Yaden's chuckle was downright evil as he turned to Ivan and the flock around him. "Back up, people!" He commanded calmly.

The little man had to repeat that order, but finally Ivan had some breathing room again.

Yaden grinned at Ivan. "Show them what you've got." He said.

"In here?" Ivan looked around and at the ceiling, wondering how flammable things were.

"Yeah, it's sturdier than it looks." Yaden reassured him.

"Uh… okay." Ivan took a deep breath, centring himself.

Ugly memories reared up, how he had always failed when his trainers had put him on the spot like this. How he hadn't even managed to light a candle. What if he couldn't do it? What if it had just been a strange fluke and now he was back to being not really a psion at all? It would be the immediate end of this wonderful dream.

In sudden panic he looked over at Yaden, already imagining the disappointment in the knight's face. What he found instead was unshakable, calm confidence and a smirk of anticipation. Yaden didn't just believe in him. He was certain.

It kindled an ember inside him and there it was, that steady flow of heat in his mind that he just had to tap into. Without thinking, he shifted into the Ga'Un fighting stance and with a flick of his wrists his flame sabres came to life.

A loud "WOAH!" from the gathered crowd rewarded him and now the cocky grin came back easily. He might be naked and surrounded, but never again would he be helpless.

"That is fucking gorgeous…" The young woman who had been complaining about his hair whispered breathlessly.

Ivan agreed. They didn't exactly treat him more respectfully after that display, but they at least stopped altogether ignoring him. And when he looked into the mirror after they were done with him, he had to admit that they did know their job. He had never looked better.

They had found him some dark red leather pants that fit him like a second skin and a pair of chunky leather boots a few shades darker. That, apparently, had been enough clothing in the eyes of the PR team, for they had completely skipped any kind of shirt or vest, instead just giving him a pair or beaded strings to tie around his upper arms and a thin, tight golden necklace with an oblong golden phoenix amulet in the shape of the Phoenix Knight crest as a slave collar.

One of the hypo-sprays he had been injected with had forced his hair to grow at a ridiculous rate for a few minutes, which had then been mostly cut off again. The sides of his head were shaved short again now, the remaining hair was straight and strictly combed to the right, long enough so the tip of his fringe fell down almost to his nose as soon as he moved his head. Together with his new, exotic eye colour, it made that smouldering look almost ridiculously easy.

And the first few promo shots they had taken of him very pretty damn cool as well.

With a quiet smile, he wondered if his sister ever read the QuestLog. He could almost hear her scream with rage at finding her brother grinning at her from its pages.


End file.
